David Bowie’s lyrics to his 1971 thought provoking song “Changes” is stuck in my mind. Here in Rocky Point, I’m humming the tune as I’m driving through the newly concreted roads in town. Everywhere I look, there is new concrete, new palm trees; the sandy dirt roads are disappearing.
Can you feel it? It’s a low hum of energy coursing through the air.
Things are a moving. Things are a changing.
See, I’ve been here before, I’ve witnessed this same hum–ten years ago. Yes, ten years ago when I quit corporate America to move down to the beach in Mexico, many thought I had lost my mind and fell off the deep end. I left a career, sold my house to work on my dream–writing the next Great American Novel. I relocated to a Rocky Point that was much slower, less crowded and less conveniences. Rocky Point didn’t have shredded cheese at the grocery store(something I constantly craved), pizza delivery or American Diet Coke. Financing for buying a condo was rare and driving from town to Sandy Beach was on all dirt bumpy roads.
There was no Sam’s Club, Walmart, Burger King or Circle K’s. Beach bar on Sandy Beach? No Wrecked at the Reef or fine dining restaurant. No swim up pool bars. Just a camping spot, with the old Reef bar. Now there are numerous cantina’s, delicious eateries and sports bars fighting to get your attention in every direction.
Ten years ago, the only internet was on your laptop, which could be sparse and unreliable and definitely no smart-phones, tablets or IPAD. The majority of the time you were connected to the sea not to each other–which was not necessarily a bad thing.
The old airport on the west side of Benito Juarez was what one used to fly a small private plane to Rocky Point, and the talk of the international airport seemed like a distant dream. Old Port dirt roads with electrical wires hanging down created the shopping scene and shrimp market.
Most purchases of a condo were cash and Sonoran Sky, Puerto Privada, Sonoran Sun and Las Palmas had not even broken ground. Las Palomas was just footers in the ground, and Bella Sirena was just getting rolling. Puerto Peñasco was never featured on HGTV House Hunters and the whales were not jumping as high to gain international attention and go viral.
We’ve come a long way in ten years, and we will continue to change dramatically if the first Mexican Cruise Ship Departure Port is completed in Puerto Peñasco. If that happens, Hold on…things are really going to change.
The pier for the home port project continues to stretch out into the sea, as truck after truck dumps their load, and the blocks needed to complete building the pier seem to grow in number overnight. Suddenly bumpy sandy roads are concreted and we have a Conference Center on a paved road.
Last month the Windmill out by the entrance to Sandy Beach started turning, and Westward Air started charter flights from Scottsdale for weekend runs. Check them out at www.westwardAir.com. The Malecon has had a beautiful face-lift, and Old Port had all the electrical wires placed underground. The dirt turned into concrete sidewalks and roads with covered walkways in front of the shops. Now, as of last month, driving into town on Benito Juarez, palm trees line the center of our entrance to our city and the concrete looks shiny and white. Even Dominio’s delivers. A lot has transpired in ten years: a five year depression, bad media, but with hope, progress keeps building.
Ch-ch-ch changes are happening, and continue to develop at a faster speed. It reminds me of the last time I noticed it- ten years ago. One day everything seemed slow, normal and suddenly, more and more folks kept coming down and coming back spending money, buying property. It was as if something clicked. The real estate market went through the roof, and I had to put my pen down. David Bowie lyrics focused on “the compulsive nature of artist reinvention” which somehow reminds me of the compulsive nature of Rocky Point continuing to reinvent itself once more.
If you don’t see the changes, wipe off your smudgy sunglasses and look around. Try some of the new places to eat, talk to the owners who are all hoping for a bright future for Rocky Point. They are looking ahead, getting ready to be part of the new change. Go pull up a lawn chair on Sandy Beach on a Saturday afternoon, and notice the weekend crowds growing larger on once empty beaches. Change–It’s coming.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. ~John F. Kennedy
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~George Bernard Shaw
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. ~Harrison Ford
If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown